Systems and methods for estimating healthy lumen diameter and stenosis quantification in coronary arteries

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for predicting healthy lumen radius and calculating a vessel lumen narrowing score. One method of identifying a lumen diameter of a patient's vasculature includes: receiving a data set including one or more lumen segmentations of known healthy vessel segments of a plurality of individuals; extracting one or more lumen features for each of the vessel segments; receiving a lumen segmentation of a patient's vasculature; determining a section of the patient's vasculature; and determining a healthy lumen diameter of the section of the patient's vasculature using the extracted one or more features for each of the known healthy vessel segments of the plurality of individuals.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer-implemented method of identifying a lumen diameter of a patient's vasculature, the method comprising:
 extracting, for each known healthy vessel segment of a plurality of individuals, one or more lumen features for a plurality of sections of vasculature adjacent to the healthy vessel segment; 
 computing a population-based healthy lumen diameter based on the extracted one or more lumen features; and 
 generating an estimate of fractional flow reserve, generating an estimate or sensitivity of a fractional flow reserve estimate, or generating a model based on the population-based healthy lumen diameter. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 computing a patient-specific healthy lumen diameter based on the population-based healthy lumen diameter. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 computing a patient-specific lumen narrowing score based on the patient-specific healthy lumen diameter. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 generating an estimate of fractional flow reserve, generating an estimate or sensitivity of a fractional flow reserve estimate, or generating a model based on the patient-specific lumen narrowing score. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a lumen segmentation of a patient's vasculature; 
 determining a section of the patient's vasculature; and 
 determining a patient-specific healthy lumen diameter of the section of the patient's vasculature using the computed population-based healthy lumen diameter. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 splitting each of the lumen segmentations of the known healthy vessel segments into sub-units, where one unit of the sub-units corresponds to the determined section of the patient's vasculature. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the one or more lumen features for the plurality of sections of vasculature adjacent to the healthy vessel segment include a lumen feature for a section of vasculature downstream of the healthy vessel segment and/or a lumen feature for a section of vasculature upstream of the healthy vessel segment, and 
 wherein each of the lumen feature is one of an average maximum lumen area, an average minimum lumen area, a volume, and a length. 
 
     
     
       8. A system for identifying a lumen diameter of a patient's vasculature, the system comprising:
 a processor configured to perform a method including:
 extracting, for each known healthy vessel segment of a plurality of individuals, one or more lumen features for a plurality of sections of vasculature adjacent to the healthy vessel segment; 
 computing a population-based healthy lumen diameter based on the extracted one or more lumen features; and 
 generating an estimate of fractional flow reserve, generating an estimate or sensitivity of a fractional flow reserve estimate, or generating a model based on the population-based healthy lumen diameter. 
 
 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the system is further configured for:
 computing a patient-specific healthy lumen diameter based on the population-based healthy lumen diameter. 
 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9 , wherein the system is further configured for:
 computing a patient-specific lumen narrowing score based on the patient-specific healthy lumen diameter. 
 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 10 , wherein the system is further configured for:
 generating an estimate of fractional flow reserve, generating an estimate or sensitivity of a fractional flow reserve estimate, or generating a model based on the patient-specific lumen narrowing score. 
 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the system is further configured for:
 receiving a lumen segmentation of a patient's vasculature; 
 determining a section of the patient's vasculature; and 
 determining a patient-specific healthy lumen diameter of the section of the patient's vasculature using the computed population-based healthy lumen diameter. 
 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the system is further configured for:
 splitting each of the lumen segmentations of the known healthy vessel segments into sub-units, where one unit of the sub-units corresponds to the determined section of the patient's vasculature. 
 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 8 ,
 wherein the one or more lumen features for the plurality of sections of vasculature adjacent to the healthy vessel segment include a lumen feature for a section of vasculature downstream of the healthy vessel segment and/or a lumen feature for a section of vasculature upstream of the healthy vessel segment, and 
 wherein each of the lumen feature is one of an average maximum lumen area, an average minimum lumen area, a volume, and a length. 
 
     
     
       15. A non-transitory computer readable medium for use on a computer system containing computer-executable programming instructions for performing a method of identifying a lumen diameter of a patient's vasculature, the method comprising:
 extracting, for each known healthy vessel segment of a plurality of individuals, one or more lumen features for a plurality of sections of vasculature adjacent to the healthy vessel segment; 
 computing a population-based healthy lumen diameter based on the extracted one or more lumen features; and 
 generating an estimate of fractional flow reserve, generating an estimate or sensitivity of a fractional flow reserve estimate, or generating a model based on the population-based healthy lumen diameter. 
 
     
     
       16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15 , the method further comprising:
 computing a patient-specific healthy lumen diameter based on the population-based healthy lumen diameter. 
 
     
     
       17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 16 , the method further comprising:
 computing a patient-specific lumen narrowing score based on the patient-specific healthy lumen diameter. 
 
     
     
       18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15 , the method further comprising:
 receiving a lumen segmentation of a patient's vasculature; 
 determining a section of the patient's vasculature; and 
 
       determining a patient-specific healthy lumen diameter of the section of the patient's vasculature using the computed population-based healthy lumen diameter,
 wherein the one or more lumen features for the plurality of sections of vasculature adjacent to the healthy vessel segment include a lumen feature for a section of vasculature downstream of the healthy vessel segment and/or a lumen feature for a section of vasculature upstream of the healthy vessel segment.